Chocks away!'

Sir David Jason on why he is ‘honoured’ to be helping commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain

- Elaine Reilly

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, which saw brave British airmen and their allies from other countries, including Poland, New Zealand and Canada, in combat with the German Luftwaffe from July until October 1940.

It’s widely accepted that their heroics and sacrifices saved the country from Nazi invasion during World War Two, with Prime Minister Winston Churchill immortalising their efforts in his famous wartime speech: ‘Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.’

To commemorate the anniversary, in July, as lockdown restrictions began to ease, actor, national treasure and qualified helicopter pilot Sir David Jason was invited to meet the team at RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire, who fly and maintain the 12 historic aircraft that make up the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight for a one-off ITV documentary.

In Flying for Britain with David Jason, cameras follow him as he gets up close to these irreplaceable machines, even flying alongside a Supermarine Spitfire and a Hawker Hurricane in a helicopter. Along the way, he learns more about the pilots who flew them during the Battle of Britain and finds out what the future holds for these magnificent aircraft.

Sir David also discovers how the RAF managed, during lockdown, to organise a fly-past in honour of Captain Sir Tom Moore for his 100th birthday in April and pay tribute to Forces’ Sweetheart Dame Vera Lynn as she was laid to rest in July.

Here, Sir David – born in February 1940 so still a baby when the Battle of Britain was fought – tells us more…